Far Cry 3 is coming out according to Ubisoft. Their Montreal branch along with Shanghai and Massive Entertainment hope to get it done by 2012 and will be “something new and unexpected”.

Full press release and Q&A after the jump.

Today, during a press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Ubisoft® announced the development of Far Cry 3®, marking the return of the highly-acclaimed video game franchise. Development on Far Cry 3 is led by Ubisoft Montréal with the support of Ubisoft Shanghai and Massive Entertainment. Far Cry 3 will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, the Sony® PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC in 2012.

With Far Cry 3, players step into the shoes of Jason Brody, a man alone at the edge of the world, stranded on a mysterious tropical island. In this savage paradise, where lawlessness and violence are the only sure thing, players dictate how the story unfolds, from the battles they choose to fight to the allies or enemies they make along the way. As Jason Brody, players will slash, sneak and shoot their way across the island in a world that has lost all sense of morality.

“Far Cry 3 brings something new and unexpected, while still building upon the foundations of excellence that are inherent to the Far Cry brand,” said Dan Hay, producer at Ubisoft Montréal. “Whether you’re already a fan of the Far Cry series or jumping into the franchise for the very first time, you’re going to be blown away by the gritty story and epic adventure we’re going to deliver.”

Far Cry has always been about cut off from civilization, in a far-off place on the edge of the world. As an interactive experience, it has always allowed you to play the way you want and engage the enemy on your own terms; scout out a location and take out key positions with long-range sniper fire, or just shoot first and ask questions later. Each approach is rewarding in its own way and no style of play is discouraged. The game is about exploration, experimentation, and being drawn into a world that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

2. Why bring back another FC game?

Shooters these days are becoming increasingly linear and increasingly military (you’re a soldier; you follow somebody else’s orders). A lot of players are craving the opportunity to do more, to decide for themselves what they want to do, when they want to do it, and how. We’re proposing a deeper narrative experience, creating a fully-realized game world with more opportunities available to the player to explore (for those who want to do so). Far Cry 3 will be putting more of the story, and the action, in the gamers’ hands.

3. Links between FC3 and FC 1 & 2?

Far Cry 3 brings something new and unexpected, while building upon the foundations of excellence that are inherent to the Far Cry brand. Whether you’re a fan of the Far Cry series or jumping into the franchise for the very first time, you’re going to be blown away by the gritty story, and epic adventure we’re going to deliver. Clearly, there are no pre-requisites to enjoying Far Cry 3.

4. What makes FC different from other games in the genre?

Far Cry 3 will allow you to explore a fully-realized game world where you can fight enemies on your own terms. The island, with its cast of characters and locations to explore will force you to improvise solutions for your own survival. It will offer a very unique experience in a very unique environment: the people you will meet, the actions you’ll take, and the decisions you’ll have to face could only be found in Far Cry 3.

5. What is a First Person Adventure game?

First Person Adventure points to the fact that we’re not just an FPS; there’s a whole lot more to the equation in Far Cry 3. The story in Far Cry 3 won’t be delivered from a narrow A-to-B-to-C perspective, but will emerge through the interactions you’ll have with each of the characters you run into on the island, the intriguing places you stumble upon, and the action that takes place in each one of these situations. Although you’ll definitely be squeezing the trigger to accomplish your objectives, there’s a full range of other activities that you can get involved in on the island. What would you do if you found yourself in this place?

6. Where is the game set?

Far Cry 3 takes place on the edge of the world, on a tropical island found somewhere at the intersection of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The island has been inhabited by a number of groups throughout the years, but none have laid claim to it officially. Equal parts beauty, brutality, and mystery, it is a lawless frontier where drugs, piracy, and human abuse go all but unnoticed.

7. Why back to a paradise island?

This is not the island of Far Cry 1. The choice of a paradise island allows us to play with the paradox that exists between beauty and brutality, in a setting that makes sense for the brand. Visually, the beauty found in the bright sandy beaches, volcanic peaks and deep misty jungles are strongly contrasted by the violence and horror of the conflicts that take place there. The environment is also tool to be used for survival, allowing you to improvise your attack or deception of the enemy. Gameplay will reflect the range of opportunities and variety only this type of environment could provide.

8. Who’s the team at E3? Their background, previous games.

Dan Hay, the Producer, has a significant experience in the film and video games industry, where he’s worked in animation, art direction, and finally production on projects such as Fear 3, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Quake 4, 007 Nightfire, and several others.

Jason VandenBerghe is the Narrative Director on Far Cry 3. He has been designing and producing games for about sixteen years. He’s served tours of duty all over the industry, but likes Ubisoft the best. His recent contributions include, among others, Red Steel 2, where he was Creative Director, and Ghost Recon Future Soldier, currently in development.

Jamie Keen is the Lead Game Designer on Far Cry 3. He’s been in the video game industry for some 10 years, including stints at EA and DICE, where he worked on the Battlefield franchise (he was Producer on BF Bad Company).

9. The developers thoughts about FC2 and the mistakes not to make again in FC3

If I can make one promise, it’s that this time, our hero won’t have a debilitating disease, and won’t have to stop on a regular basis to take his pills. Although we can joke about one or two of the things that didn’t work as well as intended, we feel like Far Cry 2 was successful in pushing the genre on a number of fronts. Since the beginning of the Far Cry 3 project, we’ve clearly kept the focus on listening to both our fans and our critics. We’ve learnt about rewarding exploration, not only by providing an objective at the end of the trip, but ensuring that every moment along the way is fun, fulfilling and worth the time and effort. In Far Cry 3, it won’t be a function of measuring the size of the world (in square kilometres, for example), but more about experiencing the density and variety of activities you’ll get involved in along the way (and the degree to which they’re all fun). It’s just a small example, but one we took to heart in ensuring that Far Cry 3 took the best of Far Cry 2 and brought it to a whole new level.

10. Game story and main characters introduction?

Jason is a man alone, who finds himself trapped on a mysterious island, cut off from civilization. His boat has been sunk, his girlfriend has gone missing, and the island he’s on is crawling with modern-day pirates, drug dealers and gun-runners. He’s got a camera on him, which he can use to capture some of the insanity that’s going on around him. He’ll find out very quickly, however, that he won’t have any other options but to kill if he wants to stay alive.

11. Who is that crazy guy that talks about insanity?

Vaas is a particular flavour of insanity, one of many that Jason runs across on the island. Vaas dispenses his own variety of vicious, drug-inspired violence on his victims. His crazed lawlessness bleeds down through the ranks of his followers, a collection of toughs, low-lives and drug-trading degenerates that are bound to leave you with much more than just physical scarring. Just consider yourself lucky if you come out alive.

4 Responses

This is shaping up to be a really good game, I loved Far Cry’s 2 exploration and freedom but the storyline was really weak, this seems to have revived that and made the parts I loved better! Roll on 2012 😀

I beg to differ on the story line, I thought Far Cry 2’s story was WAY better than far cry 1(and from the looks of it the 3rd installment). It could have been deeper, yes, with more options and player choice and less redundancy, but thats a game for you. I really would like to see them actually remake far cry 2’s concept, only correct the flaws it had, and make it deeper and darker. I liked the fact that the story in 2 has a real life issue involved in it, which is extremely rare for a game that is not based on the Military. Instead of a freak island with zombies, monsters, or crazies… stay with real life issues, much scarier.

I agree with Stephen, I really liked the Far Cry 2 story. I do understand that it felt somehow detached, and was perhaps not used to the best of its potential, but as a basis, it was really very good. Sadly, I never played Far Cry 1, but I understand the games share surprisingly little in common. I recommend you both check out the Far Cry 3 suggestions forum on the official website / Ubisoft’s website. There are some really good ideas on there that definitely would serve the game really well.

Far Cry 2 was a masterpiece. You could select your character who had very little background information, allowing you to build your own persona if you wanted. In FC3 you are stuck with some vacationer who somehow has Marine Force Recon combat abilities. The malaria was actually rather clever and unique; but apparently gamer fatboy lards don’t want something wrong with their hero god character. Weapon degradation added to the feel of hopelessness that was ever so present throughout the game. FC2 also had a very real conflict that was actually believable…. The story even had complex moral themes that you could interpret differently each time. Sure, FC 2 had many flaws, like repitition, sheer amounts of killing for no reason, etc. While FC3 may have pandered to the fans and fixed the flaws of FC2, all I’ve seen so far is removal of all the GOOD things about FC2. Like Stephen, I much would have rather seen a Far Cry 2 redux than a hyper active frag fest Hitchcock film game bastard child thingy.